Alright house, doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and medical professionals
i'd like to get ur take take on issues concerning generalised anxiety disorder and depersonalisation phenomenon.
i actually have been having these disturbances and i think i'll really like to hear ur analysis of what this is all about so that i can know how others feel about this. the depersonalisation stuff is just like feeling that u're outside ur body and yet u're not. so basically this triggers some kind of anxiety and on it goes. sometimes i get to think that this is fatal but my doc says its not and i believe that cuz am really getting better now. am on medications. i've been ill(gastrointestinal and abdominal breathing problems) for alot of while then so i thought it could be malaria or anything. i went for tests scans and nothing except the typhoid and malaria and ucler kind of problems. the scan even talked of gastritis. but i did the H.pylori test and it came negative. sometimes its like bitter taste in the mouth, sometimes i feel a choking sensation in the throat sometimes its like a lump in the throat. other times my muscle aches then my legs and feet get cold and the feet feels very light like there is no blood there. all these trigger some panic attacks but later i got the diagnosis as i have had some severe phsychological stress. now am on drugs and getting better. so plz the professionals what do u think of this?
comments appreciated.

am presently on imipramine

Im sorry. . . . Im tryin nt to laff. ARE U 4 REAL ? !
How can one person have so many complaints? ?
You didn,t say what kind of stress u went thru, it sounds like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or did u have a head trauma prior to all of this. Like tom cruise, i believe psychiatry is a psuedo-science but Im glad u say the imipramine is working for u. Keep taking it.

Is mclovin the only doctor that cares?

sd-6:

Alright house, doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and medical professionals
i'd like to get your take take on issues concerning generalised anxiety disorder and depersonalisation phenomenon.
i actually have been having these disturbances and i think i'll really like to hear your analysis of what this is all about so that i can know how others feel about this. the depersonalisation stuff is just like feeling that u're outside your body and yet u're not. so basically this triggers some kind of anxiety and on it goes. sometimes i get to think that this is fatal but my doc says its not and i believe that cuz am really getting better now. am on medications. i've been ill(gastrointestinal and abdominal breathing problems) for alot of while then so i thought it could be malaria or anything. i went for tests scans and nothing except the typhoid and malaria and ucler kind of problems. the scan even talked of gastritis. but i did the H.pylori test and it came negative. sometimes its like bitter taste in the mouth, sometimes i feel a choking sensation in the throat sometimes its like a lump in the throat. other times my muscle aches then my legs and feet get cold and the feet feels very light like there is no blood there. all these trigger some panic attacks but later i got the diagnosis as i have had some severe phsychological stress. now am on drugs and getting better. so plz the professionals what do u think of this?
comments appreciated.

I am not quite sure what 'comments' you are expecting here, but i will just give an overview of the phenomena you are experiencing.

Depersonalisation phenomena can occur outside of an anxiety disorder, as a 'normal' physiological response to stress, whether acute or prolonged. On it's own, or even with its twin-derealisation,which is when the individual feels slightly detached from what is going on around them-it doesn't really need treatment. The understanding that it can occur 'normally', in most cases is enough to make it gradually wane in both its intensity and frequency.It can also be part of the experiences following sleep deprivation; fasting; physical or emotional trauma; use of certain drugs, including caffeine, alcohol and other psychostimulants; or it can be part of other illnesses associated with panic attacks (see below).

The other symptoms that you have described  (‘gastrointestinal/abdominal and breathing problems’,  ‘a choking sensation in the throat sometimes, like a lump in the throat, muscle aches, legs and feet getting cold and feet feeling very light 'like there is no blood there') are in keeping with Panic attacks.

Panic attacks can exist on their own or be part of a complex of other disorders, like Social Phobia (the fear of being in social situations/extreme shyness), Agoraphobia (the fear of being in place from where you can’t escape), Generalised Anxiety Disorder (free floating ‘panic attacks’, with no clear precipitants) etc. What a lot of people don’t know is that Panic attacks and the anxiety spectrum disorders are very common. Unfortunately they are regularly misdiagnosed as malaria, typhoid fever or given other types of external attributions such as spiritual attacks, witchcraft etc.

Ideally the treatment of choice would be Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Your therapist would help you recognise these symptoms and explain how they come about from a physiological perspective and then gradually help you to find better ways of distracting your thoughts from engaging in the catastrophic mode that leads to the symptoms. In the short term medication helps but it doesn’t deal with the cognitive issues that needs to be sorted out.

If the symptoms are associated with Depression as it occasionally does, then Imipramine and other such Tricyclic antidepressant would not be out of order. Unfortunately the better recommended antidepressants such as the so-called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI’s) would be a lot more expensive than Imipramine, which is not the first drug choice in countries where the drugs are heavily subsidised by the government.

So having said all this, what you should be looking for, if you can afford it and if your 'illness' is not too debilitating, is somebody (a trained psychologist or a Psychiatrist) who can offer you a short course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). CBT-of about 12-16 sessions- would give you longer lasting benefits and also equip you with the coping mechanisms that you need to deal with the experiences, were the symptoms to resurface in the future.

I hope that my ramblings have been useful to you.

@beneli
it would be obviously understating to say that u have rambled. In fact u have given a more comprehensive insight to my condition especially ur emphasis on misdiagnosis and spiritual miscontruction. Early last yr, while still serving in kebbi state i was suddnly awoken one mornin by intense dyspnea and i panicked excessively that i was hospitalized with malaria as a provisional diagnosis. After the trauma, i had hardly recuperated when i felt a recurrence. But this time, it felt self inflicted cuz i was apprehensive of a relapse and BOOM! It came. I then travelled for treatment and that marked the onset of gastrointestinal disturbances(a new diagnosis). To cut it short, i experienced recurrence of these gastro disturbances whenever i had intense psychological stress occasioned by fear of relapse. Not until my panics became severe did i get this diagnosis GAD and depersonalization. But before this, i got depressed cuz i cudnt determine wat was wrong wit me despite all the hospital visits and malaria treatments. Then came the panics. I've been on imipramine for over three months currently on 100mg a day. The physical symptoms have disappeared. Now just the depersonalization which has although reduced in intensity but is chronic. I may discuss CBT wit my psychiatrist. And the memory of my ordeal and trauma keeps distracting my full recovery. I must say that am very grateful for ur time taken to visit my case. God bless u.